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Opinion Contributor

Agriculture panel germinates ideas at the table

We cannot have family farms go under because of a little bad weather, the authors write. | AP Photo

That is real reform.

We sat down together and looked at every program — to find ways to reduce spending and improve effectiveness. In the end, we had eliminated more than 100 different programs and authorizations, while still strengthening investment in top priorities.

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We took 23 conservation programs and streamlined them into 13 easier-to-use initiatives. Nearly 650 environmental groups in all 50 states are supporting this common-sense approach that will mean less erosion, cleaner water, healthier wildlife habitats and less government spending.

The Senate Farm Bill also improved food-assistance program integrity to decrease fraud and abuse and ensure that aid goes to those who truly need it.

Making programs smarter also means making them better able to help create jobs. One clear example was the way we reauthorize core research programs while eliminating smaller, duplicative research programs.

To augment those important research initiatives, we created an innovative foundation to leverage private funds to advance these food and agricultural innovations. The bill also helps boost agriculture exports and creates new local markets for family farmers. Jobs will be created in American cities as well — with strategies to expand nonfood based bio-energy production and bio-manufacturing.

We write the nation’s farm bill every five years. The current one expires at the end of September. Agriculture is one bright spot in our economy that supports 16 million jobs, and Congress must pass a new Farm Bill that allows the sector to continue underpinning our economic recovery.

Americans want Congress to create jobs and reduce the deficit. This Farm Bill does both — and in a bipartisan way. It passed out of the Agriculture Committee 16-5. Forty-five senators from both parties have written to the Senate leaders, urging them to bring this bill to the floor.

It is time for everyone in Washington to set aside their differences, come sit at the table and pass this long-overdue reform.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) is the chairman and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) is the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

Readers' Comments (3)

We insure Jamie Dimon when he gambles with our money in the $700 trillion derivatives market. Insuring the basic farming industry seems like a no-brainer. I would like to see the States prohibited from honoring food stamps in restaurants however.

What India should do is to snap up good European Assets. In India, India should attract foreign indigenous Indian talent back from US now that US is less than promising. On the Asian front India needs a peace of mind. If India is to blossom, how can she have a peace of mind when there is animosity between India and China. If US can tap India to check on China, likewise US can tap China to check on India when India ascends and China declines, which is inevitable given her aging demographics and very badly damaged environment. Hence India should quickly take out all the thorns with China. There will be much to collaborate with China and China must heed that given India's advantages. South Asia and the East Asia with about 1.8 billion populations each, have the very foundation needed for economic growth. But between these two, the South Asian economies are more common in economic system given that all are Commonwealth countries thus sharing more or less the same mechanism which makes intra-nation co-operation easier. Apart from that it is easier to have one single dominant currency in the form of the INDIAN RUPEE. In East Asia's case the two major economies have different systems and there are two major currencies in the form of the RMB and YEN.. Although the YEN and now the RMB had head starts but that can come to an abrupt halt if India's economy sustains throughout this crisis and rejuvenates timely with the world recovery. So what India really needs is to put her political house in order, steady the South Asia economies and rope China into her sphere so that India can through China influence East Asian economies. Not that India cannot go direct but does India want to have the headache of having to deal with countries like Japan, Vietnam and some others, which do not share the Indian story? Its better to focus on Europe if China is in the pocket already! India has one problem, The population and no one listens to the overpopulated. The tradition has been and will be . Are investors getting nervous about the future prospects of gold? May be a little, considering the price of the yellow metal is hovering around its all-time high. Mumbai standard gold prices have gone up in the last year, an appreciation of 32.88%. Investors were also betting on gold. According to AMFI data, value of gold holdings in gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) has gone up in the last one year. Lately, however, the situation seems to have changed a little. Gold ETFs have seen net outflow says AMFI. That raises a question: should one buy gold at these current high prices? "Investors must look at gold from the portfolio diversification point of view. Gold prices should remain firm, considering the high deficits of governments across the world and the sovereign debt crisis," says Chirag Mehta, fund manager - commodities, Quantum AMC. Having manpower works and India has shown this by agriculture and nuke. The first quarter of this year saw India’s economy grow a mere 5.3 percent, the slowest rate in nine years. The single biggest factor has been the hefty increase in benchmark interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India over the past two years—from 4.25 percent in January 2010 to 8.5 percent in January 2012. While the central bank’s motivation has been to keep inflation in check, a direct side effect of the interest rate hikes has been a rapid cool-down of the pace of investments in infrastructure and the manufacturing sector. A second major factor has been India’s worsening trade deficit, caused primarily by a growing appetite for oil and coal coupled with an increase in the price of these commodities. During the fiscal year ended March 2012, India did extremely well as on the export front: Shipments grew by a stellar 21 percent to a record $322 billion. What hurt India, however, was that imports grew even more sharply—by a huge 32 percent, to $489 billion. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA

As you sit in your air conditioned DC office writing regulations, try to remember this is just your hobby, and you will never, ever care as much about the land, the soil, and the animals as the farmers (and their families, who also live and work on that land) do.

Your well-intended whim can snuff-out generations of tradition and struggle.